“You are so good,” Sloan said.
“I think I want to start now, you guys. I know I want to be a fashion designer, and I want to see my clothes in the hallways.”
“Yeah, everybody was loving your jacket,” Slade said.
“People really liked the one I had on too,” Yuri added.
“So what are you waiting for?” Sloan asked.
“I don’t know. In most people’s eyes, I’m still a kid.”
Sloan placed her hand on her hip and said, “And? So … you got talent.”
My cell phone was ringing. I didn’t recognize the number.
“Alright, y’all, go ahead and go … Hello?”
“Hey. It’s me—Spencer. Sorry to just call you out of the blue like this.”
“How did you get my number?” I asked.
“I can’t tell,” he teased.
“Jazzy Jay gave it to you.”
Spencer admitted, “Okay. Keep it between us though. He didn’t want you to know that he gave it up. Is it alright that I called though? I saw you with your dad, and the way he was checking me out was like, ‘Leave my baby alone.’”
“He’ll be alright, but I wanted to thank you. It’s ironic that you called because I’m going to take your advice. I’m going to let what’s inside of me come out. I’m not going to keep my dreams bottled up any longer. I’m going to be a fashion designer. I’m going to be one now, and I got you to thank.”
“That’s what’s up,” he said.
And I couldn’t let him know it, but the way he said it and the fact that he called and the way he looked at me when he was leaving school made my heart go pitter-patter. We had something in the making. Truth be told, that is what was up.
“Okay, foxy lady. You’re going to be a designer. About time you made up your mind. Where have you been all my life?” Jazzy Jay said the next morning when he and I were in fashion merchandising class.
“So are you and Spencer talking now?” I asked unsure, leaning in closer to him, wanting to know the scoop.
“And if we are, you jealous?”
“No, because obviously you’re talking about me.”
We laughed. He filled me in on Spencer wanting my number.
Marks High School wasn’t going to be half bad. It didn’t just give the basics; it had the arts, some technical pieces, and career pathway classes. I had fashion merchandising and criminal justice. Taking a law class was the only way my mother would approve my schedule. They were both electives, but for some reason, she really thought I was going to be her. She had four other daughters for that. Although I couldn’t see any of them wanting to be an attorney either. I just wanted her to lay off of me. Let me forge my own trail. Let me make my own way. Any person in her right mind knew most attorneys in America had stable jobs and great incomes. That profession was a promising career that yielded great results; however, being a lawyer was not in me. She didn’t need to push it. The only way I could show her that I was destined to do something else was to take my dreams seriously and believe in myself even if no one else was.
“So what’s up? We’re sitting here waiting on the teacher to come in the classroom, so are you going to be a designer or what?”
“I mean, I want to …”
“Yeah.”
“But I don’t know how. I need a mentor or something.”
“Well, that’s what I was hoping you’d say, but don’t sweat it. After school let’s swing by to visit my cousin.”
“I don’t know,” I said, forgetting that his cousin was the hottest up-and-coming fashion designer in the South.
“So you don’t want to meet Sydnee Sheldon? The new Gloria Vanderbilt, Bill Blass, and Guess of our time, who’s got the hottest jeans out, baby.”
Thankfully, Ansli and I both drove today. We have twin Chevy Sonics except hers was a hatchback, and mine was the standard fourdoor. Hers was red, and mine was white. There was a yearbook staff meeting after school, and she wanted to get into some activities. My other siblings would have to wait on her so I could go with Jazzy to meet Sydnee.
“How do you know she’ll help me? How do you know she’ll talk to me?”
“Because I already set it up, boo. Don’tcha know who ya talking to? I don’t play. Just tell me what you need, and Jazzy Jay can get it indeed. Alright … alright!”
“You all need to settle down. This is a classroom full of seniors not kindergartners,” Ms. Anderson, our teacher who looked like she had anything but style, came in the door and said. I couldn’t get any more from Jay for the rest of the class.
“Give me that thing around your neck,” Jazzy Jay said to me as we were walking into the cafeteria.
“No,” I voiced as he proceeded to try to take it.
“You want to sell some, don’t you?”
Realizing he was serious, I took it off, and he put it on. He wasn’t wearing it any way that I would have preferred, but it still looked darn good. He was walking as if he was on a runway, and a whole bunch of people’s heads were turning.
“How much you selling them for?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, you better come up with a price.”
“Twenty.”
“Too high. Ain’t none of us workin’.”
I said quickly as I calculated that I’d still have a profit, “Ten.”
“Sweet. I want a dollar for every one of them I sell.”
“Okay,” I agreed, and he pranced away.
I was alone at the table until Spencer came up. “Is this seat taken?”
“Jazzy will want it, I’m sure.”
“Please, he’s too busy trying to make a dollar.”
“Well, sit then.”
“So, he texted me and told me you two were going to meet his cousin,” Spencer said, showing interest.
I teased, “You better watch it. You two are getting mighty close.”
“It’s cool. He knows I have my eye on another,” Spencer said, looking deep into my eyes.
I had to take a very deep breath. That moment froze in my mind the rest of the day. I should have been so excited getting to meet a twenty-five-year-old designer who was taking the fashion industry by storm, but I couldn’t help thinking about Spencer. He said his eye was on somebody, and his eye was locked on me. The rest of the day was a blur.
“Earth to Shelby! Come on. Let’s get out of the car. We’re here,” Jazzy Jay said when I drove to Sydnee’s downtown brownstone. “Hurry up. She’s waiting on us. Come on.”
“So this is Shelby Sharp. I’m so excited to meet you,” Sydnee said as she let us in to the immaculate store.
She took me around and was really nice. She was way taller than me. I don’t see how she was related to Jazzy. She was on point. She had it all together, but why was she sort of fawning all over me?
“I’m just going to be real. I’ve got a big fashion show coming up in a couple of weeks, and when Jazzy Jay called me and asked if I wanted to meet you, I thought, ‘That’d be great!’”
“You did?”
“Yes! Because, cutting straight to the chase, I need your help. Your dad is going to win mayor. I want to get on his side now. If he can come to my event now and bring the press with him … ahh that just ups my stock. Can you help me?” Sydnee asked.
The only thing I could think of was Spencer saying in my ear, “See, here is one of those opportunities. Somebody needs something from you, but you need something from them … work it, leverage it, get what you need.”
“I can do that if you mentor me,” I blurted out.
Her shrewd eyes looked me up and down. I guess she underestimated me, but she stuck out her hand and said, “Done.”
Now, I had created a problem. How in the world was I going to get my dad to the show without him knowing what I was doing? Ugh, what have I gotten myself into?
“Hello?” I said when I picked up the phone later that evening, excited to see it was Sydnee Sheldon’s number. “Ms. Sheldon?”
“Y
ou can call me Sydnee. I just wanted to tell you it was great meeting you, and I wanted to see if I could talk to your dad to give him any details he might need about my fashion show.”
A lump went into my throat at that moment. I hadn’t even mentioned it to my father. Was she serious?
“Is he around? I know I’m catching you on the spot, but I believe in getting things done.”
One thing I was learning about people who were entrepreneurs is that they weren’t shy. If you wanted something, you had to go after it, but I wasn’t planning on telling my dad what was up. I just want to get him there, and once he was anywhere where cameras were, he would do his thing and deliver. But now, she wanted to talk to him?
“Well, maybe when I come next time to hang out with you, learn the business, stuff like that, you could talk to him then.”
“No, I need to talk to him before then. Your mom or somebody. I’m not just going to work with you and not have your parents aware we have a deal. I need to make sure that deal is in place. I can’t tell you how many people I hooked up with who didn’t hold up their end of the deal.”
“I wouldn’t do that.”
“I know you wouldn’t intentionally do that, but if I’m going to be telling people your dad is coming, putting his name on posters and stuff, then I need permission to use his name and likeness. Is there going to be a problem with that, Shelby?”
In so many ways there was a big problem with that, but I had to keep cool. I had to figure this out. The only thing I could say to her was, “I’ll get back to you.”
“Okay, don’t come back around here until you do. I hate to sound curt, but this is business, you know?”
As soon as I hung up with Sydnee, I went into my dad’s study. “Dad, how’s the campaign going?”
“You’re mighty chipper. What do you want, Shelby Grace?” he asked, knowing me. He always called me Shelby Grace when he knew I was up to something.
“Go ahead and sit down, Shelby. I’m working, honey. Talk to me … tell me what you need.”
In a low tone, I said, “Well I did something.”
“Well, what did you do?” he said, giving me a look.
“I didn’t do anything horrible. I mean, it’s sort of horrible because I didn’t talk to you first, but I’m going for my dreams, Dad, and I know you’d do anything to help me with them, so … it sort of isn’t that bad.”
“Okay, you’re talking all around the edge of this. Give me the point.”
“I want to be a fashion designer, and I met Sydnee Sheldon, the lady …”
Cutting me off, he surprisingly said, “I know who she is. She’s got new jeans that everyone is trying to get in their stores.”
“Exactly! Dang, Dad. You’re hip.”
“She’s been calling my office.”
“She wants you to show up at her fashion show.”
“Yeah, I just don’t know if I need to get out there and endorse any businesses right now.”
“See, here’s the thing. I sort of told her that you were going to go.”
“You did what?” He was not smiling. He was completely serious. I got up out of the chair and took a couple of steps backward toward the door.
“Shelby, what did you do?”
“Well, she wants you to come to her fashion show and has been trying to get in touch with you, and I need a mentor. Like you said, Dad, she’s awesome.”
I pulled out my iPhone and went to the Internet and pulled up some articles.
“You don’t have to sell me on her. I know she’s great.”
“And so I was wrong to try to get you committed without you’re approval, but she’ll only help me if you’re gonna come to her thing. I need this, Dad, bad. She can help take me to another level. She’s so young, and I know she gets my designs, but I know she’d only give me a chance because of who my dad is. I’m just trying to learn to leverage that. Isn’t that what politics is all about? Promising things to your constituents so you can get their vote?”
“Okay,” he said, cracking just a little in my favor. “I like where you’re going with this. I don’t see the harm in showing up. You need to clear this with your mom though.”
“Thank you, Daddy! Thank you!” I said as I rushed over and kissed him really hard on the cheek and hugged him even harder.
“But do not do that to me again. Seriously, there’re going to be a lot of guys coming to you girls wanting things. Particularly if I win, they will want you to get them to me. Don’t let them use you, and for sure, don’t use me.”
I nodded. “I’m sorry, Daddy.”
“Alright. Get out of here.”
Two days later, after both of my parents talked to Sydnee and agreed I could learn from her, I was at her shop. I was super excited. Getting a chance to learn from the best was awe-inspiring.
“I love these designs,” she said.
Sydnee explained that she liked my creativity, the out-of-the-box thinking, the cuts, and the lines. Also, when she went into detail explaining what she admired about my work, I knew she wasn’t just blowing smoke and trying to get closer to me. I knew she was taking the mentoring thing very seriously.
“If you go in the back, I got a sketchbook that I used at your age. You’re much further ahead than I was. You might have to look through a couple of boxes, but be careful, and please don’t fall down. It’s on the top shelf in the back room. When you see what I did compared to what you do now, you’ll see you are far better than I was at your age. You got skills, Shelby.”
I was so enthusiastic that I was with her. Just being in her presence, being in her back room, and seeing her fabrics and current sketches made me giddy. Being a part of that creativity was mind-blowing, but now I had to find a book. Not that I wanted to toot my own horn, but I couldn’t believe her sketches were as bad as she was saying they were. But the fact that she was even giving me the privilege to look at them was super fantastic.
Then I heard some scuffling and a male voice getting extremely loud. I peeked out of the curtain, and a guy who was all hugged up with her was now in her place of business growling like a grizzly bear ready to devour her for his dinner or something.
“I gave you five hundred dollars yesterday, Brian. I’m not giving you any more cash. I need it all for the fashion show.”
And then I saw this Brian guy take his hand and throw a rack of clothes to the ground. She started shaking, and before she could run away, he grabbed the back of her shirt, turned her around, and punched her. Sydnee Sheldon, the great up-and-coming fashion designer, didn’t have a perfect life after all. She had an abusive man in her life. I’d stumbled into another horrible secret.
CHAPTER FIVE
SENSUAL
Brian raised his arm to hit her again, and my heart stopped. I had to make a decision. I wasn’t a punk. I wasn’t going to stay in the shadows and allow her to get beaten to a pulp, but if I went out there, who’s to say he wouldn’t hurt me too? I was looking for my phone, but it wasn’t on me. I had a bad habit of putting it down, and everywhere I put it wasn’t where I needed it.
“No, no! Brian!” Sydnee hissed. “I’m not alone here. Please, calm down.”
“What do you mean you’re not alone?”
“I’ve got a new girl. I’m mentoring her.”
“A girl? You’re lying. You’re here by yourself. You’re always here by yourself. I helped make you. I put off all my hopes and dreams just so you could have a future, and then as soon as you get some notoriety and some checks, you can’t pay me back?”
“I’m not alone! I’m not alone! I swear,” Sydnee said with severe despair in her voice.
“She’s not alone,” I yelled out as I came from behind her curtain.
Brian licked his nasty lips and smiled showing his gold tooth. “Ooh, you’ve got a pretty young thang in here.”
“Brian … Brian, please just go. You don’t want to mess with this girl.”
“You don’t want to give me any money. You need to make me happy
one way or another,” he said, eyeing my thighs like he wanted to touch them.
“Just tell him who I am already,” I said, wishing I could take back the way I said it.
I was appalled by this guy. Didn’t he know who he was messing with? This was Sydnee Sheldon. She didn’t need him. He might have helped her when she had nothing, but now she had something, and she didn’t need him. And if she needed me to stand up to him and speak on her behalf, I was ready to do that.
Brian looked confused, but he didn’t release his tight grip on her.
“Her dad’s running for mayor. He’ll be here in a second. We don’t need any trouble,” Syndee said.
Brian stepped back and started shaking, clearly nervous like his tail should be. “I need to have a talk with her. I need to make sure she’s not going to go tell her dad what she thinks she saw.”
When he turned to walk toward me, Sydnee yelled out, “She didn’t see anything, baby. She didn’t see anything really.”
Sydnee stepped in front of him. She started kissing on his neck and rubbing hard on his back. Her fingers started unbuttoning her blouse all in an effort to keep his attention on her.
“Don’t think about anything but me right now, baby. Here … here … I will give you the money.” She went over to her safe, but the Brian creep was looking at me like I was his girlfriend.
“What’s your name, girl?” he said, showing me he was not in complete control of his faculties.
I realized Brian had to be on something. I wasn’t quite certain what someone looked like when they were high. However, the slurred speech and droopy eyes were sure indications that something was going on with him.
“This ain’t enough!”
“That’s all I got right now, baby. I’ll meet you a little later on. Let me just finish up with her, okay? Go home. Let me just finish up. Go home.”
She was begging him, and I did not understand. I was here to learn from her, but the way she was acting with this man was certainly nothing I wanted to emulate. Then finally, after breaking her heart and some of her things, he left.
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